This invention belongs to the art of agricultural chemistry, and provides herbicidal methods making use of a class of compounds not previously known to be agriculturally useful. Unwanted plants growing in cropland, as well as in fallow land, consume soil nutrients and water, and compete with crops plants for sunlight. Thus, weeds constitute a drain on the soil and cause measurable losses in the yield of crops. Herbicides are therefore recognized as necessary for obtaining the greatest benefit from the land.
Some of the compounds used in this invention are presently known in the chemical art. For example, Novelli, Tetrahedron 24, 2481-84 (1968), showed the synthesis of .beta.-dimethylamino- and diethylaminoatroponitrile.
Some nitriles have been used in agricultural chemistry. Strong, U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,091, taught the herbicidal use of .beta.-alkylthioatroponitriles, for example.